Bigsquidrc Gen 8 review up.

[Smokin' Joe]

FYI https://www.bigsquidrc.com/redcat-ra...out-ii-review/

[Bob_in az]

Another great review. I've taken my Gen 8 out a few times now & yes, it's great. It's definitely on another level compared to other Redcat vehicles. I honestly think Traxxas & Redcat are the frontrunners in the scale world right now. Axial & Vaterra have some catching up to do. The Gen 8 is nearly all people are talking about on rc social media pages, yet this forum remains relatively silent on it. Guess the Redcat hate runs too deep here. Even Harley's review, while very nit-picky, was overall positive. The skid hump hasn't been an issue for me or others. Small bearings? Beta testers have been running the portal axles for months without issue. Most on 3s & some on brushless. Painted windows? It's an rtr. Many of us are using various methods to get the paint off the windows. The plastics are on point. Better than Axial by far & as good or better than Vaterra & Traxxas. The aftermarket is on board & products are starting to trickle out. I suspect a kit version with metal trans gears, t-case gears & clear body is on the way. Nobody can deny that the Gen 8 is a lot of truck for the money.

[soze]

Amazing, for once they didn't drive a Crawler/Scaler off a rooftop, give it go around a skate park, see how much air time it can get off a BMX track!

All kidding aside, it's nice they're giving more attention to providing crawler/scaler measurables now.

[JatoTheRipper]

I didn't read the review, but I saw they gave it the same score as the TRX-4 Sport with a B+.

BS is a comical website though so I don't put much weight in anything they do or say.

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I didn't read the review, but I saw they gave it the same score as the TRX-4 Sport with a B+.

BS is a comical website though so I don't put much weight in anything they do or say.

It was a good review. They were better at pointing out its flaws than most magazine reviews, but they're still just a shill for vendors, so I mainly just read it for the pictures.

[Harley]

Originally Posted by Bob_in az

Another great review. I've taken my Gen 8 out a few times now & yes, it's great. It's definitely on another level compared to other Redcat vehicles. I honestly think Traxxas & Redcat are the frontrunners in the scale world right now. Axial & Vaterra have some catching up to do. The Gen 8 is nearly all people are talking about on rc social media pages, yet this forum remains relatively silent on it. Guess the Redcat hate runs too deep here. Even Harley's review, while very nit-picky, was overall positive. The skid hump hasn't been an issue for me or others. Small bearings? Beta testers have been running the portal axles for months without issue. Most on 3s & some on brushless. Painted windows? It's an rtr. Many of us are using various methods to get the paint off the windows. The plastics are on point. Better than Axial by far & as good or better than Vaterra & Traxxas. The aftermarket is on board & products are starting to trickle out. I suspect a kit version with metal trans gears, t-case gears & clear body is on the way. Nobody can deny that the Gen 8 is a lot of truck for the money.

That hump on the bottom is ridiculous, anyone who doesn't complain about that just isn't driving them enough. There is no way that thing should have been allowed to move past an initial review. Most everything else isn't too bad, the steering geometry is pretty wack and it's got terrible bump steer to the passenger side.

It shouldn't get the same grade as a TRX4 sport IMO, but it's not a terrible car for $299.

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by Harley

That hump on the bottom is ridiculous, anyone who doesn't complain about that just isn't driving them enough. There is no way that thing should have been allowed to move past an initial review. Most everything else isn't too bad, the steering geometry is pretty wack and it's got terrible bump steer to the passenger side.

It shouldn't get the same grade as a TRX4 sport IMO, but it's not a terrible car for $299.

If Redcat raised that bump, everybody would bitch about the high CoG and/or the inability to run a full interior. It would also impact driveshaft angle.

Personally I would have preferred a more traditional drivetrain arrangement. It would have eliminated the bump and the lousy servo position, but Redcat wanted the forward motor position.

[roadrashracing]

There certainly was a lot of hype up to the release but after I haven't heard much after, I might try the portals on my crosscat (highly modified gen 7), if i get bored with my all wheel steer.

[Harley]

Originally Posted by Jim85IROC

If Redcat raised that bump, everybody would bitch about the high CoG and/or the inability to run a full interior. It would also impact driveshaft angle.

Honestly thats not true at all. It would have only done that if they used those same parts. They could have just designed it with reduction in another location and used a smaller final gear to get to the ratio they wanted. It was just not fully thought out, or thought that it was acceptable to have that hump. I am sure you'll see fixes from the aftermarket to make it more inline with it's direct competitors.

[Bob_in az]

Originally Posted by Harley

That hump on the bottom is ridiculous, anyone who doesn't complain about that just isn't driving them enough. There is no way that thing should have been allowed to move past an initial review. Most everything else isn't too bad, the steering geometry is pretty wack and it's got terrible bump steer to the passenger side.



It shouldn't get the same grade as a TRX4 sport IMO, but it's not a terrible car for $299.

The hump is just not an issue for me. Maybe it's my driving style. However, I haven't heard an overwhelming amount of people complaining about it who are out there driving them either. Some, but not a huge number. I had it out at a local comp spot again today & it did great. The body is on the large side though & it'll drag the ass pretty good if you don't watch it. Overall, it's a good truck. I'll do a few upgrades, but it doesn't need much for me. In my opinion, I put it right behind the TRX-4. It's good enough to make Horizon think about some serious updates to Axial & Vaterra.

Sent from my SM-G925P using Tapatalk

[svt923]

Originally Posted by Jim85IROC

If Redcat raised that bump, everybody would bitch about the high CoG and/or the inability to run a full interior. It would also impact driveshaft angle.

My initial thought was that Redcat was trying to strike a compromise of low battery placement and transfer case clearance (ignoring the fact gear ratios could have been changed around). Having the truck in my hands yesterday, there is a lot more space between the transfer case and the battery tray than any picture has shown. Based on the available space, either the battery can be lower or the t-case can be raised to remove the bump without impact on the battery placement.

[DukeMinnix]

Originally Posted by Harley

Honestly thats not true at all. It would have only done that if they used those same parts. They could have just designed it with reduction in another location and used a smaller final gear to get to the ratio they wanted. It was just not fully thought out, or thought that it was acceptable to have that hump. I am sure you'll see fixes from the aftermarket to make it more inline with it's direct competitors.

owning one and driving it a lot already, the ass overhang and lack of departure angle is far more detrimental to performance than the belly bump, but thats just one mans observation.

[Jim85IROC]

Originally Posted by Harley

Honestly thats not true at all. It would have only done that if they used those same parts. They could have just designed it with reduction in another location and used a smaller final gear to get to the ratio they wanted. It was just not fully thought out, or thought that it was acceptable to have that hump. I am sure you'll see fixes from the aftermarket to make it more inline with it's direct competitors.

Maybe so. Like I mentioned, I would have preferred a different driveline arrangement too, but using the up-front motor & trans with the divorced transfer case was no doubt done to appeal to the scale crowd. Personally, a portal-equipped vehicle is already somewhat of an odd choice for the scaler crowd, so it may have been a misguided design decision, but who knows. As you said, I'm sure the aftermarket will come to the rescue, so it all may end up being a bit of a non-issue. Honestly, if Redcat did everything perfectly, there wouldn't be anything for the aftermarket to fix.

Originally Posted by svt923

My initial thought was that Redcat was trying to strike a compromise of low battery placement and transfer case clearance (ignoring the fact gear ratios could have been changed around). Having the truck in my hands yesterday, there is a lot more space between the transfer case and the battery tray than any picture has shown. Based on the available space, either the battery can be lower or the t-case can be raised to remove the bump without impact on the battery placement.

Well, if that's the case, then it does end up being a curious choice. Maybe they wanted the transfer case a hair lower to ease up on driveshaft angle? I know some guys were tearing up the u-joints on their Gen7s. If not, then it does make you wonder why they went that way.